Know God Will Provide

Alrighty guys.

So today we're continuing our series called Getting to Know God about the Life of Abraham.

And we've just kind of went in with this basic understanding that the more we open up scripture, the more we understand who God is.

The more we see God interacting with someone in these various complicated and interesting situations, we will understand his character a little bit more.

So we are looking at Abraham's life specifically, but we're using it as a lens to kind of get in there and see how God acts, what does God want?

What is the way that he speaks?

How does he handle our mistakes?

And it's been a super encouraging series, and we've kind of cracked open a lot of interesting conversations along the way.

But today we get to the like the most famous story of Abraham's life.

It might even be one of the more famous stories of the Bible.

It is a typically called Abraham Sacrifices Isaac.

And I'll just say up front, it's a misnomer and it's it's frequently mislabeled because Abraham doesn't sacrifice Isaac.

Isaac makes it out of this story alive.

Okay, so just to calm your nerves before we start, Abraham survives the story.

I know it's a spoiler alert.

Um if you were gonna call it something more accurate, maybe it would be Abraham doesn't sacrifice Isaac, or Abraham's test, or really specifically, if you wanted to be as uh descriptive as you could possibly be, is God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.

It just doesn't have the same ring to it as Abraham sacrifices Isaac.

So let's open up to Genesis chapter 22, verses 1 and 2.

Genesis 22:1

They say this.

Sometime later, God tested Abraham's faith.

Abraham, God called.

Yes, he replied, here I am.

Take your son, your only son, yes, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah.

Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.

Let's stop there.

It's a pretty intense thing, and I think all of us, whenever we read this story, we ask ourselves that initial question of how would I respond?

How would I respond if God called me to do something as intense as this?

And we're gonna get to Abraham's response in a minute, but I have to tell you about another misnomer.

Getting to know God, I think at this point in the story, might be a slight misnomer.

Obviously, it's gonna take us eternity to know God.

We we can never, it's impossible for us to even know God fully.

Like that's uh he's infinite, he's bigger, he's he's crazier, he thinks differently.

There's no way we could possibly fully know God.

But we're getting pretty well along into the story.

I mean, Romans 11 says this Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge, how impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways.

For who can know the Lord's thoughts, who knows enough to give him advice, and who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back?

For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory.

All glory to him forever, amen.

So technically, we could be in a series for all of eternity called Getting to Know God, because we have all eternity to understand the ununderstandable mind of God.

So we could be there forever.

But by this point in the story, it is not like first impressions, introductions, getting to know you like you would get to know somebody on the first date.

We are 25 years into Abraham's relationship with the Lord.

Way back in Genesis 12 is when uh he's called to follow God, specifically called out.

This is what the first impression and first introduction looked like way back in Genesis chapter 12.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

It says the Lord said to Abram, and he had a different name at the time, so lots of time has passed, leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you.

I will make you into a great nation.

I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.

I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt.

All families on the earth will be blessed through you.

So Abraham departed.

Abram departed, as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him.

Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.

Abram, seventy-five years old when he first meets God and really truly starts to follow God.

Obviously, there's some element of faith and knowing the Lord that exists there, but he hears the voice of God, believes that the promise is true, and begins to follow him.

This is a pretty solid first impression.

God promises hey, anyone who treats you with contempt, I'm gonna curse them.

Anyone who does you well, I'm gonna do them well.

That's a really great place to start your relationship off.

I don't know about you, but there are plenty of relationships that I have not started off that well.

Um the one that came to mind is my wife.

We didn't start off on the best first impression.

Um and let me just can I asked permission to share all this before.

Hannah happens to be out of town today.

The Lord provides.

So um he does.

Um I'm gonna share this story and I'm gonna share some pictures and whatnot, but uh I did ask permission, and it was there well, the noise she made when I asked her permission, I said, Hey, can I show this picture and tell this story?

And she went, on the phone.

And I was like, I don't have to.

I didn't force this, I don't have to tell the story.

And she's like, No, if if it'll be helpful, go for it.

And so I want to start by uh showing what Hannah looked like at our first impression.

And so this is the yearbook picture of Hannah.

See, some of you laugh hysterically, and some of you say, aw, because that's cute.

Hannah considers this her like the worst picture of her that's ever been taken.

And I'll say, if that's the worst picture, that's like a pretty good bar, you know, like it get goes up from there.

We're all dorky in middle school, she was in seventh grade, I was in sixth grade.

Here's the story.

I value people laughing and uh being the center of attention, like that's like something that, especially in middle school, just really, really fed me.

And so I would look for opportunities to get people to laugh and to be the center of attention, even if they were at other people's expense.

And my wife is is short.

We there's no like can't avoid that.

If you've seen her up here, the stage makes her look taller, but she says that every Sunday someone comes up to her and she's like, You're the singer on stage?

Yep.

You're so much shorter in real life.

Like, yeah, the stage is like five feet tall, so she looks ten feet tall, but in real life she's kind of short.

In middle school, she was really short.

And I think, you know, as we're processing who we are in middle school, you gotta kind of overcompensate for your insecurities.

And so that was a touchy subject for Hannah in middle school.

I didn't know this.

I just saw a short person come out of the cafeteria.

I can remember where I was.

Outside the cafeteria, in the hallway.

I'm a sixth grader, she's a seventh grader.

And this wasn't like love at first sight.

This wasn't, I mean, can we show the picture of Hannah again?

So she's probably watching right now.

Um I won't be mean.

I'll we'll just move on.

Um, so I see someone and I'm just like, time to bully her.

And so I decide to bully her to my own at my own expense.

I mean, this that doesn't go well for me.

I say, what's up, shrimp?

And like just call her something small.

And like the small dog in her started, like, she just like squared up, pushed me on the ground.

Seriously.

Yep.

I deserved it.

And then there's a dispute about this detail.

I remember being kicked by her while I was on the ground.

Not like repeatedly kicked over and over again, but definitely like there was definitely a push and a kick.

She says the kick didn't exist.

And so I brought that yearbook, yearbook picture just because I was like, you know, we need some visuals of me and Hannah's first impression.

And I know you just cheered for Hannah, but I haven't showed you what I looked like in middle school at the time because it changed the way I see like think about my memory of this story.

Because I was like, yeah, I'm some punk, like middle school boy, like he so deserves it.

Let me go find the picture in the same yearbook.

I mean, I brought the yearbook, it's it's sitting right here.

Um, my school is called AHA Aha.

Okay.

So can we show the picture of me of what I looked like when Hannah pushed me down?

Look at that sweet little guy.

He did nothing wrong.

Seriously, I was like, could you imagine pushing down a sweet little boy like that?

And it kind of looks like my son, so it kind of made me like sad for him one day he's gonna interact with a girl in middle school and she's gonna push him down.

But that was our first impression.

And the year goes by.

And so I was reflecting on that and I I brought this because as I was looking at this, and I'll show you, let's see if I can open the page.

This is my actual yearbook, and it has a couple of like everyone signs their you know their names.

When I turned the page, on this page, it was girls' handwriting for the entire page.

Okay?

And then in the back, another full page of just doting on how awesome I am and how cute I was.

I don't know why I'm reading this, but someone says, Maddie Kins, I love you, babe.

And I'll miss you much.

You have been so good to me being a friend.

I am hoping to stay in contact.

She gives her phone number and she says, You're hot, with a heart exclamation point.

Yeah, that guy, he was hot.

Um and both of those full page write-outs for me from girls were not Hannah.

Neither of those were Hannah.

I looked to see if Hannah even signed my yearbook.

She did not even sign my yearbook.

So I think the first impression kind of carried through, uh, carried through, that impression carried through.

And, you know, things were interesting that year.

And so we're reading this moment of Abraham's life, and it's 25 years later.

He gets the first impression of God.

He's called, it's a good first impression, and 25 years later is when our story picks up.

And so Genesis 21 is when he has Isaac, when Sarah has Isaac, says, The Lord kept his word and did for Sarah exactly what he promised.

She became pregnant and she gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age.

This happened at just the time God had said it would.

And Abraham named their son Isaac.

Eight days after Isaac was born, Abraham circumcised him as God had commanded.

Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born.

The time lapse to me, as we read the story of Abraham and Isaac, Abraham and his faith being tested, the time lapse I think is extremely important to keep in our mind.

This moment where God calls Abraham out to sacrifice his son is not an isolated incident, and it isn't the bad first impression that Abraham gets.

There's a time lapse.

There's been history, and over that course of that relationship, there's been shared stories.

Abraham has grown to understand what God's voice sounds like.

Abraham has uh gone through things with God, and so there's a little bit more of a relational trust that's been built over those past 25 years.

Now, for Hannah and I, I've known her for so long.

We've finally hit the mark where we've been together longer than we were not together.

On Wednesday, we celebrated 10 years of marriage.

Yes.

And so I've gotten to know her really well, and as you spend time with someone, you can know when something's off.

You can see when something's wrong, you can see when things are are a little bit weird, but you don't necessarily know why.

I am a notorious, notorious surprise spoiler because I can just tell something's going on, and then it's in the back of my mind, and I start asking questions that I shouldn't be asking, like, hey, what was that charge for on our card?

And I never checked the money, but I'm just like kind of aware something's going on because I know her really well, and so I can tell when things are a little bit different.

So it's the same with Abraham.

We can trust God even if we don't have all the details, even if we don't know him fully, or if we've only been following for him for a short time, but Abraham has been following him for a long time, and when God calls him, he says, Here I am.

Here I am.

He knows him well enough to have a readiness in his heart to say, Here I am.

And I kind of point out the word here I am because it does become this catchphrase throughout the Old Testament of faithful people that are willing to do what God has asked them to do.

The prophet Samuel is called.

God says, Samuel, this is 1 Samuel 3.4.

Then the Lord called Samuel and he said, Here I am.

Exodus 3, 4, this is when uh Moses is called from the bush.

When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called out to him from the bush, Moses, Moses, and he said, Here I am.

Isaiah 6, 8.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send?

Who will go for us?

Then I said, Here I am, send me.

The Hebrew word that they're using is heneni, and it basically has a little bit more of a connotation than just roll call.

Like if I called out y'all's names, I could sit here and you'd say here, and I would that would be just me knowing that you had made it to church this morning, which we don't take attendance, we're not like tracking you in the background.

Whenever you have to miss church, you're good, it's no big deal.

But this is a little bit deeper than that.

This is about saying, Here I am, my heart is ready, I'm willing to do what you would ask me to do.

And so this familiar voice comes forth to Abram, Abraham, and he says, Here I am.

And it's not like the challenge that he had when he was first called.

Leave your house, there's gonna be this big adventure, but it comes with a lot of amazing things.

Instead, he's kind of asked to do something that we would place in this category of unthinkable, but he still says, Here I am.

So let's see where it goes from here.

Genesis 22, and we'll read those two verses again and kind of walk through it.

Sometime later, God tested Abraham's faith.

Abraham, God called.

Yes, he replied, Here I am.

Take your son, your only son, yes, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah.

Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.

The next morning Abraham got up early, he saddled his donkey, and two took two of his servants with him, along with his son Isaac.

Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering, and set out for the place God had told him about.

On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

Stay here with the donkey, Abraham told the servants.

The boy and I, and pay attention to this line, the boy and I will travel a little farther.

We will worship there, and then we will come right back.

So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac's shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife.

As the two of them walked together, Isaac turned to Abraham and said, Father, yes, my son, Abraham replied, We have the fire and the wood, but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?

God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son, Abraham answered, and they both walked on together.

This is, and we just gotta embrace the fact that this is an intense, an intense thing to ask of someone who's been following you.

And this request wouldn't have been completely alien to Abraham during his time and day.

The neighboring religions, the neighboring cults around frequently would offer their children as sacrifices to appease like the gods that they were worshiping.

And it was just a normal, it's horrifying, but it's a normal part of their pagan worship.

And we can't read Abraham's mind, so there's some you know, wiggle room for some speculation, but what we can do is apply like normal ways we interpret the Bible in any situation.

We're always going to look at the the specific context of Scripture.

It's really important.

Anytime we hit any challenging passage, we need to look at the context.

That's why we bring up the fact that the relationship is 25 years old, that uh Abraham knows God.

So that's like the narrative context.

There's also the historical context, things like pagan child sacrifice.

That's a that's a practice that's going on at the time.

We have to look at the whole of scripture.

There are plenty of verses that we can look at that can inform how we feel and how we interpret this passage.

But then lastly, we're gonna look at the the person of Jesus.

And when we look at the context, the whole of scripture, and the person of Jesus, it equips us to wrestle with those tougher passages and specifically this one.

And so if we look just uh not that many books down, I mean it's a lot of books, but if you turn your Bible to the uh book of Jeremiah, this is later, uh, the descendants of Abraham have actually fallen into the practice of child sacrifice, whether they've been influenced by their neighbors or have just gone full out rebellious.

Um, and this is what God says about those people at that time.

Jeremiah 32.

Israel and Judah have done nothing but wrong since their earliest days.

They have infuriated me with all their deeds, says the Lord.

From the time this city was built until now, it has done nothing but anger me, so I'm determined to get rid of it.

And if you're interested in what that looks like, go back and listen to our Love and Judgment series on Sodom and Gomorrah, because I think Justin did a really great job of kind of uh navigating what it looks like for God to really take sins super seriously.

Verse 32 the sins of Israel and Judah, the sins of the people of Jerusalem, the kings, the officials, the priests, the prophets have stirred up my anger.

My people have turned their backs on me and have refused to return.

Even though I diligently taught them, they would not receive instruction or obey.

They have set up their abominable idols right in my own temple, defiling it.

They have built pagan shrines to Baal in the valley of Ben-Heno, and they have sacrificed their sons and daughters to Molech.

I have never commanded such a horrible deed.

It never even crossed my mind to command such a thing.

What an incredible evil causing Judah to sin so greatly.

God wouldn't ask this of anyone.

He says there that it never even crossed his mind, and this is post-Abraham.

He says, It never even crossed my mind to command anyone to do this.

Why are they taking part in this?

And so that's some context that I think is really, really helpful for us to understand Abraham's response to the request, because it seems like, well, didn't you ask Abraham to do it?

And I think Abraham just really knows, knows God well at this point.

That's why I think getting to know God is a slight misnomer.

It's like living knowing God might be, or following God might be a better, better thing.

But he says, God will provide.

And I don't know about you, but there are probably times where someone you know really well has started doing something kind of odd, or maybe has asked you to do something that's a little bit out of character.

Those are the moments where that that really jump out to you and stand out.

And I'm not, again, I'm not trying to be mean to my friends and my loved ones, but I just kept thinking of good examples.

And so Last year, my friends, including some of the guys on staff here at church, started to grow really horrible beards.

Like there are guys on staff that can grow like amazing beards.

And then there are some of my friends who grow like the scraggly beard.

If I grow my beard out, I've got the mustache, but if I grow my beard out, it's just a scraggle fest.

It is not full, it is not worth it's not worth looking at.

So I noticed my friends who usually don't have facial hair are growing these horrendous beards.

And I'd ask them about it and be like, yeah, I just thought I'd try it out.

Like, that's so that just doesn't seem like Thomas to grow a beard out.

Like he's not a bearded guy.

Or or Matt.

He's got like some some facial hair sometimes, but he's not like the beard guy.

And so everyone's growing their beards out, and I'm just like, I guess everyone's just into beards all of a sudden.

And then I'm sitting on my couch at home, and it's one of those birthdays where uh like life just gets in the way, and you're like, I guess it's not a birthday, I guess this is not a year where we're gonna celebrate the birthday.

Like, it's okay.

We'll we'll have some dinner and it'll be great, but it's not gonna be a big all-out celebration.

And someone rings my doorbell, and all of my friends have showed up to my house.

They've all removed their beards, but kept the mustache as a tribute to my amazing mustache.

Yes.

And so I have a picture of a few of them.

Actually, Matt and Warren were Matt was up here on guitar, Warren was on drums.

Warren's mustache was so amazing that that's just like an alter ego that we continue to reference even to this day.

And so they wore a mustache as like a surprise, but from the outset of that experience, I knew that something was up because they were doing something that was out of character.

And so I know that Abraham, when he's asked to sacrifice his son, recognizes that something's up here.

That this isn't just a plain old command, maybe, but there's there's something going on that God has to find a way through this because this isn't something God would ask of me.

And the more you get to know God, the more you get to recognize his voice.

And I'll have people ask about, you know, how do you know whether it's God's voice or if it's your own thoughts?

And over the years, as I've gotten to know God better, I've just started to be able to recognize that.

I read scripture and it sounds like scripture, or I have a thought and it doesn't sound like my normal thoughts.

Abraham had been following God through thick and thin all of these years.

I think he knew what God's voice sounded like, and I think he knew that God was up to something that maybe he didn't see all of the details.

Because here's what Abraham knew about God God will provide.

And that's what I want all of us to walk away from the message today is just knowing that God will provide.

Look at Abraham's life.

Abraham was called out into the into the adventure, into the unknown, and all along the way God provided.

Even when Abraham was like getting in a mess of his own making, when Abraham pawned his wife off as his sister multiple times, both of those times, he comes out on the other side of it with land, with servants, with wealth, with livestock.

He's been provided for.

He's provided for despite his mistakes, despite his lack of faith.

When he goes along with the plan that Sarah has to get their servant pregnant, to really, you know, inch along God's promise a little bit faster of a son and of nations.

He he goes against what God is actually doing.

And God could have, you know, reversed that situation pretty easily, I guess.

But even for Hagar, the servant, and for Ishmael the son, there's a provision and a blessing that goes beyond something that we would think from God's perspective.

This is what God told Abraham in Genesis 21.

Don't be upset over the boy or your servant.

Hagar and Ishmael were sent off.

Do whatever Sarah tells you, for Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.

And we could have just been, there's that.

Get rid of them, goodbye.

Isaac's the one.

That was wrong, you shouldn't have done that.

I'm correcting you here.

But instead, this is what God does.

But I will also make a nation of the descendants of Hagar's son, because he's your son too.

Abraham walks away blessed and provided for time and time again.

Abraham has faith, of course, but it's not this faith that's isolated to this one instant, and it's not this test that is just um standing on its own.

And that's what I think is so disturbing about this story, is because it is such a famous story, we often read it on its own.

And we try to apply the life lesson and the rule absent from the relationship that happens there.

And so we imagine ourselves asked that question, how would I respond?

What would I do if God was commanding me to do this?

Well, God is commanding Abraham to do this in the context of their relationship.

This isn't what religion likes to do is turn that into a rule.

Turns it into, Christians, we need to be willing to sacrifice our children as burnt offerings to prove our faith to the Lord.

No, that's not the rule that's coming out of here.

But Abraham, God knew something about Abraham, and Abraham knew God, and there was something that needed to be worked out, and something that needed to be revealed.

So maybe, and again, we can't understand the mind of Abraham, and we can't fully understand the mind of God, but maybe Isaac and that promise was getting in the way of that relationship.

Maybe that Isaac was finally here, this like thing that they've been waiting for, this promise that they've been waiting for, this person that they love so much, maybe that was getting in the way of the relationship between Abraham and God.

And Abraham was trying to reveal that to Abraham, or God was trying to reveal that to Abraham.

And I don't know, but none of us treat our human relationships as rules in isolation like that.

Like with Hannah, we've been married for 10 years.

If I honored my marriage vows, my wedding vows, purely out of obligation and compulsion because of the isolated instance of us getting married, that wouldn't be loving Hannah very well.

But when it's in the context of the relationship, there's so much more room for it to blossom and grow.

And so Abraham knows that God is going to provide.

He doesn't know how, but he says to the servants, wait for us here, we will come back.

He says to his son, God will provide the lamb for the sacrifice.

And I don't think he's lying.

I don't.

The author of Hebrews wrestles with this passage as well and kind of gives another explanation that is totally an option here.

This is what Hebrews 11 says.

It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him.

Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.

Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again.

And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.

So Abraham says, Here I am, wait for us here, God will provide.

And this challenges me, because I definitely fail to have that much faith, even though I've been following God for a really long time.

I definitely take moments where I get stuff that's in the way between my relationship with God, whether it is the busyness of life, whether it is my kids, my wife, my job, my hobbies, money, whatever it might be, I can kind of let those rise to the level.

And I'm grateful for this story because it allows me to wrestle with the fact that I might have to let go of some things or reprioritize things when it comes to my relationship with God.

And that even this story is partially kind of revealing what's wrong with my heart and revealing ways that I need to grow, just like Abraham was.

And so God's testing Abraham, and we get to see he trusts that he'll provide, and he's obedient, like all the way to the end.

So Genesis 22, let's finish the story together.

When they arrived at the place where God had told them to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it.

Then he tied his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.

And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice.

At that moment, the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham! Yes, Abraham replied, Here I am, man.

Don't lay a hand on the boy, the angel said.

Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God.

You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.

Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in the thicket.

So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in the place of his son.

Abraham named the place Yahweh Yere, which means the Lord will provide.

To this day, people still use that name as a proverb.

On the mountain, the Lord of the Lord, it will be provided.

Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven, This is what the Lord says, Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you.

I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.

Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies, and through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed, all because you have obeyed me.

Abraham was right.

God did provide a ram for the sacrifice.

God did provide a replacement for what was asked of him, to say, This is a large ask, but I he ends up providing.

And it's amazing because we have a God that did that for Abraham, and it wasn't just an isolated instant for Abraham.

That as we get to know God and as we see the story of Scripture unfold, we see that God has provided for us in the same exact way.

God has provided for us in ways that we could never repay and that we did not deserve.

God provided a lamb for the sacrifice for our sin.

This is what Jesus did for us.

He did it already.

See, animal sacrifices used to be the way that we dealt with our sin.

We did wrong, we did wrong against God, we did wrong against each other, we did wrong against ourselves, and then once a year we'd go to the temple, we'd offer some livestock, and the sin would be taken, symbolically taken from us, and put on that livestock and offered up as a sacrifice so that we would be made clean, and the blood of that lamb would be sprinkled around, and there'd be this uh symbolic washing of even entire groups of people through that process.

And what Jesus does is get gets rid of the necessity of that to happen over and over and over again.

Because what happens the day after you go and bring your pigeons or your or your lambs or whatever it is to be sacrificed is we sin again.

Because we're people, we keep messing up.

But God shows up, Jesus shows up and provides for us once and for all a sacrifice to end all sacrifices so that we might know God fully, so that we might be made one, that his spirit would join with our spirit, and our mind would be the mind of Christ, and that we'd be united with him so that we don't have to walk alone and we don't have to bring those constant sacrifices over and over and over again.

And the parallels between this story of Abraham and Isaac and Jesus are just amazing.

Isaac, the beloved son, carries wood up a mountain where God provides a replacement sacrifice at the last minute.

This is Jesus, the beloved son, carries the wood up the mountain to be a sacrifice for us, to be that that sacrificial lamb.

It's beautiful.

John 19.

This is when they're crucifying Jesus.

So they took Jesus away, carrying the cross by himself.

He went to the place called the place of the skull, in Hebrew Golgotha.

There they nailed him to the cross.

Two others were crucified with him, one on either side with Jesus between them.

Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill the scripture, he said, I am thirsty.

A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it to his lips.

When Jesus had tasted it, he said, It is finished.

Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

It is finished.

What is finished?

Jesus' mission on earth, what is finished the sacrificial system, what is finished the old covenant.

Now we have a new covenant by his blood, and we celebrate that every single week with the Lord's Supper.

Hebrews 10 says this for God will for God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.

Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins.

But our high priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time.

Then he sat down in the place of honor at God's right hand.

There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool underneath his feet.

For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

He forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

It's a process and it's it's a title.

It's awesome.

We are perfect and being made holy at the same time.

And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so, for he says, This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the Lord.

I will put my laws in their hearts, and I'll write them on their minds.

Then he says, I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.

And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.

Know that God will provide.

That guilt doesn't come from God.

There might be moments where you're like, I need to work on this.

I need to overcome this.

I need to have faith in this moment.

But God's provided for you.

Jesus went to the cross for you.

Jesus loves you.

You are forgiven.

That sacrifice is once and for all.

So embrace that, believe that, trust that.

And know that He'll provide into the future.

Because it's easy to kind of understand, like, yeah, God provided for me 2,000 years ago.

I'm on board with that.

But how am I going to get through this next week?

How am I going to get through this situation with my family?

How am I going to get through this diagnosis or these money troubles or this conflict?

How am I going to get through managing that thing at work or whatever it might be?

And I'm definitely there.

I'm like, I'm a schemer, I'm a planner, I'm a strategizer.

I want to have a chart that will help make things okay.

I more often rely on that chart than I'd like to admit, where it's like, well, this is how it's supposed to go, so it's going to go this way.

I'm definitely someone that stresses and plans and worries.

But this is Jesus' response to me.

He says, That's why I tell you not to worry about everyday life, whether you have enough food to drink or clothes to wear.

Isn't life more than food and your body more than clothing?

Look at the birds.

They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly father feeds them.

And aren't you far more valuable than they are?

Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

And why worry about your clothing?

Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow.

They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.

And if God cares so wonderfully for the wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you.

Why do you have so little faith?

So don't worry about these things, saying, What will we eat?

What will we drink?

What will we wear?

These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers.

But your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs.

Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries.

Today's trouble is enough for today.

Know that God will provide.

Even the small things, even the logistical things, even the tough things.

Every single moment in life, God is sustaining you, He's providing for you.

You just might not see how it's working out right now.

And so I was trying to think of what are some examples of moments where God has provided for me.

And I don't know if it's because Hannah's out of town and I'm doing the single dad life where I'm kind of managing these tiny monsters that live in my house.

I'm like 6 a.m.

this morning, there's already screaming and fighting.

I'm like, how is it even possible?

Like, what fight could you be in?

How long have you been awake?

And so, because I'm like, I know God's provided for me.

I just can't think of any time where God's provided for me.

And I felt really guilty.

I was like, I gotta go preach.

And I'm like thinking of these, I'm like, I don't know what it is.

I'm sitting down last night, just still thinking about it.

And I'm sitting and I'm looking across my room and I see under my bed a prayer journal that I had from a couple years ago, and I was like, there it is.

I'll just go find something in there.

And so I got the prayer journal, and this was like a season of my life where I was really diligent about that, and it stopped a couple years ago, and I haven't kept a diligent prayer journal, so sorry I didn't have like a recent one.

But there are all these moments that I was reminded of God providing for me.

And as soon as I saw like the ways that God had provided for me, the prayers that I had prayed, that looking at it from now, I could say, that's been answered.

It was just a flood of ways that God has provided for me that came to my mind.

Um, one that that jumped out as a memory was uh instead of camp, uh, many years ago we went on a road trip that was like planned by me, and I would take a hundred teenagers up to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and it was a logistical mess, but it was a lot of fun, and but I was, you know, I felt the weight of the logistics a lot.

And so I would reserve the enterprise rent a car situation months in advance.

Like in November, I would be like, I need eight, 15 passenger vans.

Provide them for me in June, please.

And they'd say, Yes, you have your reservation is confirmed.

And then I'd call every couple months just to confirm that reservation because I wanted to do my due diligence.

A lot of people paid for this trip.

We're going up to Gatlinburg, it's four hours away.

We need to make it happen.

I call months in advance, still got them.

I call um a month in advance, yes, we've got them.

I call the week of, no, we don't have them.

I know.

We have one 15-passenger van.

And I was like, well, there will be 85 kids that are very upset that they don't get to go to camp.

And so I remember freaking out, just my instant is my instant reaction was this worry about today, worry about the clothing, worry about the transportation, worry about the food.

That's the mindset that I was in.

So I start freaking out, I'm making phone calls, and I even remember I'm not like a I demand good customer service person.

I'm definitely a person like if they bring me the wrong food, I'm like, oh, maybe this will be good.

Like I won't send it back.

I might like this, even though I won't like it.

Um, so I'm not super confrontational like that, but this was the most confrontational moment.

I had a phone call with a uh young woman named Alex on the phone, and she was explaining to me that they don't have the vans.

And I said, Well, you need to find them.

And we have four days, and there's nowhere in the country that takes more than four days to drive, so you can drive all of your vans to the destination so that we have them by that time.

And she's like really scared, and I'm like, okay, goodbye.

And then I hang up the phone, and I'm like, man, I don't know if I was clear enough.

And so I get in my car.

I'm serious.

This is like I get in my car and I drive to Enterprise Rent A Car down the street.

On I get I know the address, it's memorized in my brain because I've rented cars from them a lot.

Um I get in my car and I drive, and I was like, hey, is Alex here?

And then in that moment I realized like she thinks I'm gonna attack her.

Like and I said, I said to her, and this is probably the meanest thing I've ever said, and Alex, if you're in the room, sorry, and if you're watching online, sorry.

Maybe I should just go drive down.

She's not there anymore.

I said, Alex, I need today to be the most stressful day of your working life.

I said, I need you to find me these cars.

And she said, We're working on it, and I'll do all I can.

And we eventually found a hodgepodge of, you know, rent a car, Avis had a couple vans, and uh we had like eight minivans that trip because the to make up the difference from a 15-passenger van.

And listen, I didn't have to look for a driver.

Like, all of my volunteers were already ready and like old enough and skilled enough to be the drivers for all of those cars.

Like God had already lined all of that stuff up.

He knew what was going on.

We were still going to Gatlinburg.

We were still going to have our trip.

And when I think back on that trip, I'm I kick myself because the first thing I think of is that moment where I was like, I cannot believe Enterprise forgot the car.

But the salvations, the baptisms, the memories made, like God was doing something on that trip that was way bigger than any logistical thing.

And he was going to provide for it because he knew how big that trip was going to be for those individuals that were going.

And so God provides, he provides over and over again.

And even if we cannot see a way of God providing the logistics, he provides.

I think about uh, yeah, yeah, we can clap for God providing, yeah.

A couple other stories, and I'll be I'll be quick on them, but they are just too good to not share.

Our Guatemala team that just got back uh on their way to the airport, I know Justin shared this already, but it's just too good, and uh it was just awesome, awesome to hear about it.

And specifically, I want to shout out Thomas because there's just such a cool moment, and you'll see you'll see this.

Our shuttles drove the Guatemala missions team to the airport.

On the way to the airport, one of the tires exploded like pretty loudly and violently, and they pulled off to the side of the road.

Everyone's safe.

But you know the airport.

There's TSA, there's the international stuff that you gotta deal with, there's a whole host of things that they needed to deal with.

They were defin I'll say this, they were definitely gonna miss their flight if something didn't happen fast.

And so Warren jumps into the other shuttle, starts it up, and before he's able to really get anywhere, they get a phone call saying that another church saw them on the side of the road, and that they picked them up, they were driving an empty shuttle to go pick up someone that was landing at the international airport, and they just loaded them in, dropped them off, picked up their teenagers from their mission trip, and it was an amazing thing.

God clearly, clearly provided in that situation.

God had already lined all of that up, and it's just a special moment, I think, even for that team to say, hey, God's got you when you're overseas.

God's got you when it comes to this.

And I bring up Thomas because I told Thomas, because both of our wives were in that van, and I was like, Man, did you hear?

And he's like, Bro, I know.

And I seriously prayed, man, God, if there's just like another church that sees them, would you just like have them send someone to pick them up?

And so, what's that?

Yeah, it was awesome.

And so uh praise God for that, and it was an amazing trip, and they got to do so much good work.

Um, but God will provide.

And so, whether it's the logistics or the plan or the money or the conflict or whatever it is that you feel like might be the test, you feel like you're facing that test.

My encouragement is to remember that God will provide.

Do not give up.

Do not rely on yourself.

I uh we gave up when it came to looking for a house.

We decided uh we're just gonna be renters forever.

We can't find a house that's gonna actually house us.

We did the house search for such a long time, and then we prayed about it.

We showed up to what used to be a dirt field, we saw a sign that said, call this number for the agents of the house.

We called it, and me and Hannah got that house, and it was in our price range, and God knew exactly where we needed to be.

It's like I have story after story of times where God provided, and we could sit here and list all of the ones that have happened at the church even recently, all of the things that we've prayed for that were answered almost like simultaneously or just within a few short days.

So trust that God will provide for you regardless of where you're at, and do not give up on him.

Look at those moments, don't forget those moments that he's provided for you in the past and let them be a reminder that he will provide for you in the future.

That's where I think Abraham was.

He knew who God was, he knew God was a provider.

And worship team, you guys can can make your way out as we close.

God, or Abraham knew that God would provide for him, and so he simply said it God will provide the ram, the lamb for the sacrifice.

And so, how do we do, how do we respond to our provider?

How do we respond because we've been provided for so much when it comes to Jesus' sacrifice for us, or when it comes to the daily provision that we experience day in and day out?

Well, one we worship, and Psalm 77 really convicted me when it came to like trying to think of, well, what has God done, God done for me?

I don't know.

Uh it says this, but then I recall all you have done, O Lord.

I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.

They are constantly in my thoughts.

I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

So bring those things up when God does something, bring it up, think about it, celebrate him, worship him.

We just saying, you have done great things, and it's such an amazing reminder of like why we gather here on Sunday mornings.

It's to celebrate what God has done and the fact that He has has provided and continue continues to provide.

And then the second thing is maybe simple but kind of challenging.

Allow your trust to grow.

Allow your trust in the Lord to grow.

Don't see each moment as an isolated, well, this thing went bad, now I'm only here by myself.

Allow your trust to grow that each time God comes through, allow it to grow so that next time you face something, it's not an isolated incident, it's a moment to show you or to show God how much you love him, trust him, rely on him, because ultimately God's gonna provide for you.

That's where all of this is headed.

This is where all of our lives are headed.

This is what we're hopeful for looking forward into the future.

Revelation 22 is a picture of God's ultimate provision in eternity.

Says this: Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

It flowed down the center of the main street.

On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month.

The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

No longer will there be a curse upon anything, for the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him, and they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads, and there will be no night there, no need for lamps or sun, for the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever.

This is the direction we're headed, and this is what we gather to celebrate and to worship is that our God is a provider.

Know that God will provide.

And that's why I love that we end every single morning with uh Lord's Supper.

And if you missed this on your way in outside the big room, we had these tables with the Lord's Supper cups, and you guys can grab those now.

And if you forgot them, you're never like interrupting.

I mean, you might have to do the scooch thing and be like, excuse me, excuse me, but you're never messing anything up by going back and grabbing one.

There's some at the four columns in the back of the room.

But what we remember when we take this meal together, this symbolic little meal, is that we've been provided for.

That God has provided a way for us to know him, that he went to the cross understanding what was going to happen and willingly went there so that we wouldn't be on the chopping block, so that we wouldn't have to be stressed out, carrying the weight of our own sin, so that we wouldn't have to go to sacrifice ourselves so that we could pay off the debt.

That's what Jesus did.

He provided for us.

And so if you would hold the bread, we'll pray over the bread.

Lord, we thank you for who you are and for what you've done for us.

We thank you that you've provided for us.

We thank you that you allowed your body to be broken and beaten, and that you died for us so that we might not have to pay off the debt.

But you paid it off for us.

That you were the replacement, that we deserved it, and you took it.

We thank you for your body broken.

Let's eat the bread.

Now hold the juice.

And Lord, thank you for this juice and what it represents, your blood.

You say that this is the blood of the new covenant, that we are washed clean with it, that it's no longer about a law that we have to follow so that we can earn your love.

But it's about your blood spill.

That even though we've broken the law many times, you've forgiven us and you've made us clean.

And that sacrifice once and for all covers us completely.

And so, Lord, we thank you for your blood.

Let's drink the juice.

Amen.